


Barely (Dys)Functional

by Jorque



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu doesn't know how to deal with children, BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF Uchiha Itachi, BAMF Yamato | Tenzou, Gen, Kakashi doesn't know how he got here, Missing-Nin Hatake Kakashi, Missing-Nin Team Ro, Missing-Nin Team Seven, Obito is getting annoyed somebody is stealing his take over the world thing, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Shikaku is overworked, Shikamaru is just confused, Team Bonding, Team Ro teaches Team Seven, but they're all wanted missing nin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23072683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jorque/pseuds/Jorque
Summary: Kakashi barely planned going missing-nin. He never at all planned on starting a terrorist organization. He especially didn't plan on being a parent. So how exactly he ended up being in charge of terrorist cell that also ended up adopting some children still eluded him. But he would make do.OrAfter Kakashi goes missing-nin with Naruto to protect Minato and Kushina's child, two of his kohais realize that their village might not be worth serving. So they go to join their taichou, bringing some tagalongs of their own. Now the newly rogue Team Ro tries to con, assasinate, and annoy their way to a better world for future generations, all while trying to make an at least somewhat-functional family for their younger companions.Now on Fanfiction.net, same title and author.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Uchiha Itachi, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Yamato | Tenzou, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi & Yamato | Tenzou, Uchiha Itachi & Yamato | Tenzou
Comments: 94
Kudos: 653





	1. Reunion I

Kakashi had ~~kidnapped~~ rescued Minato’s son and left Konoha a little over a month ago, and he was beginning to curse himself for not planning his escape any better. Had he been by himself, he would have had no problem surviving outside of Konoha. As per his Anbu training, Kakashi could be dropped in the wilderness just about anywhere in the Five Great Nations, and as long as he had a kunai in his hand and Icha Icha in his pocket, he would be fine. No, the problem wasn’t surviving. It was making sure Naruto did.

As Kakashi had quickly realized, a stealthy six-year-old Naruto was not. Kakashi couldn’t get near any of the forest’s usually plentiful creatures without them hearing Naruto from a mile off. Plants and roots could only sustain a shinobi for so long before their body starts to suffer for it, let alone a growing child. A child with an appetite that, Kakashi thought, was frankly unfair to him as a caretaker. The kid could  _ eat _ .

He also discovered that young children didn’t sleep well covered in mud, or cold, or in uncomfortable ditches. They also required conversation, which was something Kakashi himself struggled in. Not to mention the fact that they apparently needed to sleep for longer than three hours per night to remain healthy… in short, while Kakashi had occasionally thought about how he might go about escaping his village should he ever need to, he had never factored in the possibility of him bringing a child along for the ride.

Which was why he was now patrolling the forest much too close to Konoha for his liking while Naruto slept in a nearby cave, rather than hightailing his way to the Land of Earth as Kakashi would have liked. He had just begun to consider whether or not he could make better time by getting his ninken to carry Naruto while the boy slept when he felt the telltale disturbance in the air of a shunshin. Without hesitation, he pulled a kunai out of his weapons pouch and wheeled around, slashing at where he sensed his opponent. His one uncovered eye widened as his kunai was stopped just short of slicing open Itachi’s throat. Itachi just gave him a small smile, even as a slow trickle of blood dripped down his neck from where the kunai had barely pierced his skin.

“Senpai,” The boy greeted.

Kakashi looked down to where his wrist holding the kunai was wrapped in wood, preventing it from moving forward. He glared at the material for a split second before substituting with a nearby log. He watched from his hiding place a few trees away as Tenzo appeared next to Itachi on the branch where Kakashi had just been standing.

He grimaced. The first team from Konoha to find him since his defection, of course it was own. He could beat either of his kohais one-on-one, but together they would be a problem. Neither of them were wearing their Anbu masks, which was unusual, considering they were both in their Anbu gear. Perhaps they thought that Kakashi would be more hesitant to strike if he could see their faces? They wouldn’t exactly be wrong. Though, he liked to think that it would go both ways.

Kakashi also detected two chakra signatures a little ways away in the direction his old team had come from. They didn’t seem to be hidden very well, or at all, actually. Perhaps an amateur tracking team. Kakashi’s eyes narrowed even as he watched both of his kohais reach into their pockets. He couldn’t let the secondary team find Naruto. But how could he divert their attention, while still facing the bigger threat? Perhaps his ninken could… could… Itachi and Tenzo were holding their headbands. Holding them high above their heads, slowly turning them back and forth so that Kakashi could get a good look at them no matter where he was hiding. And with his  sharingan, there was no mistaking the deep groove scratched through the center of the Konoha leaf. Kakashi performed a quick summoning before leaping out of his hiding place to a branch a few trees away from his opponents. He held a kunai towards his former teammates.

“You have my attention. You both have 30 seconds to explain why you’re here before my dogs tear your back-up team apart.”

Tenzo didn’t seem particularly worried, and Itachi even had the nerve to smile. He spoke up first. “Somehow, I don’t think they will.”

Kakashi’s eye twitched. At least Tenzo had the decency to appear a bit nervous at Kakashi’s obviously thinning patience. “We’ve gone missing-nin, senpai.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes. “I can see your headbands. For all I know those could be props. If you two have really gone missing-nin, then why is there a secondary squad with you?”

Itachi just continued to smile, while Tenzo looked a bit sheepish, but before either could answer, a shout was heard from the woods.

“Let me go! Stupid dog! NII-SAN! HELP-OW!”

“Quiet down, brat!”

Kakashi’s eye twitched again, harder this time. He glanced down to the forest floor, where a struggling young Uchiha with a scowl on his face was being carried by the back of his shirt by Bull. Pakkun was sitting on his head, leaning down from where he had smacked the boy on the nose. Behind Bull, a girl of similar age with pink hair was quietly walking, surrounded by Kakashi’s other summons.

Keeping his eyes wearily on his apparently fellow missing-nin, Kakashi called down. “Pakkun, report.”

“We found two pups further into the forest. The girl followed quietly, but the boy was being resistant,” the pug replied with something like amusement in his voice.

Kakashi’s eye twitched one final time before he put away his kunai and leapt to the forest floor, and began in the direction of the cave where Naruto was probably still sleeping. “You’re both unbelievable,” he muttered.

Tenzo and Itachi shared a smile before leaping down as well. “We learned from the best, Senpai."


	2. Reunion II

Kakashi approached what appeared to be a sheer cliff face and quickly dispelled the genjutsu. Stone and foliage melted away to reveal a shallow cave, with a sleeping blonde six-year old in one corner. Kakashi waved his guests in. The younger Uchiha had been allowed to walk the way back with the proviso that Itachi keep him from doing anything bothersome, such as running away or starting a fight with the ninken. The smaller Uchiha scowled deeply, but stayed next to his brother nonetheless. The girl, meanwhile, nearly plastered herself to Tenzo’s leg with how tightly she was holding onto him. Kakashi noted that his kohai didn’t seem at all surprised at this, nor did he try to shoo her away. He signed to his dogs, who quickly fanned out into the surrounding forest to keep watch. Kakashi reapplied the genjutsu, which still allowed the morning light to filter into the cave.

A bleary eyed Naruto was slowly starting to wake up, and, realizing that several people were in the space, started to panic. Now wide awake, he scrambled back to the wall of the cave. His eyes darted frantically around, taking in all the shinobi before him. Kakashi quickly stepped over to the blonde.

“We’re safe, they’re safe. They’re friends.” Kakashi tried his best soothing voice. One skill Kakashi had picked up over the course of his time in Anbu was acting, and it was something of a paradox- while Kakashi had no idea how to calm someone from his heart, he knew exactly what vocal pitch best soothed people in distress, and had long since memorized where and when to place a hand on a shoulder to elicit trust. It was one of the reasons he had always passed his mental examinations- he knew exactly what sane people would say or do, even if his own instincts screamed to do the opposite.

It was good enough for Naruto, who slowly took steadier breaths. Kakashi wrapped an arm around the blonde’s shoulder, pulling him tight as he calmed down. He looked up to see Tenzo looking at him curiously, while Itachi gave him an amused smile. The other two children seemed to be a little less tense at the humanizing act from the scary masked man. Kakashi smirked a little behind his mask.

“First things first,” Kakashi said in the same voice he used as an Anbu captain, “were you followed?”

Tenzo responded, as was standard for Team Ro, as the more experienced shinobi. “Negative. We left as a search team, and the children were smuggled out under Crow’s genjutsu. The village is spread thin trying to find you, so there’s only one team per sector. We were the only nin searching in this vicinity.”

Kakashi internally sighed in relief, but showed no evidence of it externally. Instead, he turned to Itachi. “Is there any chance that a sensor could have seen through your genjutsu?”

Itachi answered immediately. “Negative, taichou. I used a class four area coverage genjutsu. At the most, a chakra disturbance may have been discovered, but given that the genjutsu wasn’t interrupted it is unlikely.”

Kakashi nodded his approval. He allowed himself to slump a little against the wall, secure in the knowledge that they were safe, at least for now. Both Tenzo and Itachi, who had straightened at hearing Kakashi speak as their captain, relaxed their postures as well. The children all looked vaguely confused.

“So,” Kakashi began, in a much more relaxed voice, “why are you out here? And why the children?”

Itachi was the one to respond. “We could ask you the same thing, Senpai.”

Kakashi was miffed for a moment at his subordinate talking back at him like that, but he supposed it was a reasonable question. After all, he had been the first to go missing. “Konoha revealed itself to be… unsuitable as a home for Naruto.” The blonde in question shivered a bit. “Your turn.”

Itachi accepted the answer without question. “The village is becoming unsafe for the Uchiha.” He paused for a moment, a conflicted look on his face, before continuing quietly. “There are talks among the elders of a coup. I have been spying on my clan for months now. The writing is on the wall- the time of the Uchiha is over. Regardless of the end result of such an effort, many will die in its realization. My brother will not be one.”

Kakashi was surprised at the mention of a coup, although he very carefully didn’t show it. The elder Uchiha looked as though he had just swallowed something unpleasant, but ultimately a little less tense than he had been. Of course, all that meant was that the tiniest of frowns had appeared on the teen’s lips, but Kakashi was adept at reading his kohai’s expressions. The younger of the two brothers was scowling deeply, and Kakashi couldn’t tell if the boy was upset about leaving the village, the coup, mad at his brother or simply annoyed at being in a cave. Through the pouting, however, Kakashi could see a hint of apprehension. Reasonable, frankly. He had just left most of his family behind- nervousness was to be expected.

Kakashi eventually turned to Tenzo. He noted that his kohai had an arm wrapped around the pink-haired girl, who stared into space with a blank expression but gripped onto Tenzo as though he was the all that was keeping her from falling to her death. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Tenzo responded in a carefully blank voice.

“Sakura is safer outside of Konoha.”

Tenzo had never mentioned this Sakura before. “Civilian?” Kakashi asked, genuinely curious as to how his friend had met the girl.

Tenzo hesitated for a moment before answering. “...Not exactly.” With his free hand, outside of the girl’s field of view, he signed _BLOODLINE_.

Kakashi couldn’t hide his reaction this time, and his one visible eye widened slightly. _You’ve got to be kidding me_. He took a deep breath before standing up and stretching. “Kids, why don’t you introduce yourselves.” He looked to his old teammates. “Can we talk outside, for a moment?”

It took quite a bit of convincing to get Sakura to let go of Tenzo, but eventually the older shinobi made their way outside.

Nobody spoke for a moment, before Kakashi finally broke the silence. “I know why you’re not in Konoha, but why are you _here_ , specifically?”

“We’re a team, Senpai,” Tenzo answered simply. “We stick together.”

Kakashi stared at Tenzo like he was crazy.

“Plus, I don’t think you have any idea what you’re doing with children,” Itachi added.

“Think about it Senpai, how were you going to make money?” Tenzo asked.

“Missions,” Kakashi replied immediately.

“And were you going to take Naruto with you?”

“I was going to leave him with the ninken.”

“But wouldn’t you feel better leaving him with Itachi or I?” Tenzo asked.

“And having us as backup on missions?” Itachi added.

“And having others to take watches?”

“And having others to take missions when you need to rest?”

“And having our splendid company?”

“You’re pushing it now,” Kakashi grumbled, but Tenzo and Itachi could see the smile beneath his mask. “Alright, I get it. Sorry for leaving you guys behind, I didn’t really plan it out myself.”

Kakashi reflected on the situation. What always separated Team Ro from the rest of Anbu (besides the fact that Team Ro could probably take on half of the rest of Anbu combined single-handedly) was their teamwork. They were the only team that would put their teammates above the mission every single time. It amused Kakashi to note that even he didn’t know how deep those bonds were, apparently.

“So we have the Uchiha heir, the back-up Uchiha heir, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and the mokuton,” Kakashi summarized. “Is there anything else we can do to make Konoha want us any more?”

Tenzo grinned. “We’ve handled worse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I posted the first chapter, my goal was to hopefully get 30 kudos by the end of the fic. So getting OVER A HUNDRED from the first chapter absolutely blew my mind! Thank you all so, SO much. Again, feel free to point out any typos/clunky writing/awkward phraseology you see, as it only helps me improve as a writer and will result in a better fic for you all to read. Any predictions, ideas or hopes for future chapters are welcome. I love reading the comments, even if I don't respond to them all. Again, thank you all for reading.
> 
> What do you guys want to see next?  
> 1.) Kids meeting each other  
> 2.) Flash Forward to a mission  
> 3.) Flashback to why Kakashi/Tenzo/Itachi left  
> Feel free to ask for something else.
> 
> PS: Would you guys want to see Shisui/Sai show up at some point?


	3. Reunion III

Sasuke glared at the strange gray-haired man as he left the cave with his nii-san. Who did that guy think he was, ordering Itachi around like that? He must not have known who he was talking to. And Itachi must have been humoring him because he was so old. Yeah. Itachi was polite like that.   
Having mentally defended his brother’s honor, Sasuke turned to look at the blonde boy who had already been in the cave. The boy beamed back at him, the initial panic he had had when he had awoken having completely left him.

“Hi!” he said. “My name’s Naruto! Who are you?”

“The gray haired-man already said your name. We know who you are,” Sasuke snapped. 

“Oh yeah,” Naruto said, rubbing the back of his neck, undeterred. He kept on grinning. “Do what’s your name?”

Sasuke tried to raise an eyebrow the same way Itachi did whenever Sasuke did something foolish. The expression never failed to cow Sasuke. It did nothing to the boy in front of him. He sighed. “...My name is Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Hi Sasuke!”

“Hn.”

Naruto turned to look at the girl beside Sasuke. “And you’re Sakura, right?”

Sakura tensed when she heard her name, but she nodded slowly.

“Do you two know each other?”

Sakura glanced at Sasuke cautiously, before turning away to look at Naruto again. “No.” Her voice was very quiet.

“Then how come you guys came here together?”

Sasuke answered, forgetting that he was angry for a moment. “Nii-san knew her brother, so we left together.”

Naruto smiled, but the conversation fell into an awkward silence. Sasuke felt compelled to fill it for some reason. “Why did you want to know our names, anyway?”

Naruto gave him a confused expression. “If we’re going to be travelling together, we should get to know each other, right?”

“We’re not…!” Sasuke started, stopped, hesitating.

“Aren’t you?” Nauto asked. “Your brother said you guys were leaving the village, right? Because it wasn’t safe for you or something? Isn’t that why you guys came here to find Kakashi and I?”

Sasuke was silent. It still hadn’t really sunk in that he had left his village. The compound still felt like his home. In fact, he hadn’t even known that he and Itachi were going to leave until an hour before they had left Konoha. His anger at the whole situation, the hatred against his clan, the confusion of being rushed from his home in the dark, his new-found feelings of grief when he remembered his parents that Itachi said he’d probably never see again, came back with a vengeance. He lashed out at Naruto. “I don’t know why we were looking for you, alright? I didn’t even know we were until a day ago!”

“Sasuke…” Sakura started, having already dealt with his outbursts on their short journey. She was cut off. Sasuke stood up, shouting.

“I don’t know who you are or why nii-san wanted to travel with your brother, I don’t know why any of you are here! I don’t know why we had to leave the village, I don’t know why we had to leave m-mother…” Sasuke abruptly trailed off. He sat down again, staring at the ground. “I don’t know…”

The cave was quiet for a second. He could see Sakura looking at him with something like pity from the corner of his eye, which Sasuke  _ absolutely did not need _ from the girl who constantly looked like she was ready to fall apart. It was Naruto that broke the silence.

“Kakashi and I left because the villagers hated me,” Naruto said quietly. Sasuke looked up, surprised at hearing the blonde sound so solemn, and was again reminded of the boy’s panicked reaction when he had woken up. Naruto was looking right at him. “The people in the village did a lot of bad stuff, so Kakashi decided that it would be better for me if we left.

Sasuke wasn’t sure what to say for a moment. He heard his brother’s voice in his head telling him to  _ Be polite, Sasuke. Everyone has their own issues _ . Sasuke felt a little bad for lashing out. “I- I’m sorry to hear that.”

Naruto shrugged, looking away. “It’s fine. We left, so it’s not really a problem anymore.”

Sasuke felt the conversation drifting into an awkward silence again, so he turned to his travel companion. He was suddenly a little curious as to why exactly the awkward girl had left with them.

“So... why did you leave, Sakura?” Sasuke asked.

Sakura lifted her head up and looked at him, surprise evident on her face. It was the first time he had said something to her of his own volition. “My ability,” she whispered after a moment. “People wanted me to do stuff for them because of what I can do.”

“What can you do, then?” Naruto grinned, already past his gloomy mood. “Your ability must be really cool if people wanted it that badly.”

Sakura hesitated, looking back and forth between the curious expressions of Naruto and Sasuke. Nothing good ever happened when she showed people what she could do. Usually people were frightened, but a couple of adults had gotten this  _ look  _ in their eyes, and nothing good came of it either way. On the other hand…

Cat had left her here with them. Cat was the only one who had ever tried to help her, even after knowing what she could do. Cat clearly trusted these people if he took her here and left her with them. If Cat could trust them, then she could trust them too.

The boys watched with interest as a determined look settled on her features. She scooted over to a small fern a few feet away, about a foot tall, and lifted her left hand a few inches above it, palm open downwards. Sakura closed her eyes, and with a look of intense concentration, her hand began to glow a pale red.

A moment passed, and then matching red wisps of light began to peel and lift off of the fern. They drifted lazily upwards, wavering and merging and breaking apart randomly, before zipping and disappearing into Sakura’s palm when they got close to her hand. The boys marveled as, before their eyes, the plant began to shrink in on itself and wither as the wisps rose. It’s previously healthy green color faded into a sickly yellow, before transitioning to a dead brown, and then gray. Leaves shriveled and fell, and the stem continued to decay and crumple until it broke in half. By the time Sakura’s hand stopped glowing, the plant was only a dead shadow of its former self. The whole process took only seconds.

Naruto began to clap at the display, and Sasuke looked duly impressed, but Sakura wasn’t done. Naruto’s clapping trailed off as Sakura lowered her left hand and held her right above a tiny weed to her side. Eyes still closed, her palm once again began to glow, this time white, and shimmering wisps of light began to fall over the weed, The plant shook, and then began to grow. It was slow at first, and barely noticeable, but the growth quickly began to speed up, and soon leaves and viney tendrils were sprouting wildly off the rapidly thickening stem. When Sakura moved her hand, the plant leaned and hungrily tried to follow the light. The white glow of Sakura’s hand abruptly transitioned to blue when the weed reached a height of about a foot, and Sakura quickly clenched her hand in a fist, cutting off the glow. The plant’s growth halted, and Sakura opened her eyes.

She looked warily over at her audience, shoulders tense and hands clenched into fists on her lap. She looked as though she felt she was about to be attacked. Her whole posture relaxed, however, when Naruto began to clap even louder than before. She even managed a small smile to match Sasuke’s own encouraging smile. A voice came from the cave opening.

“Very impressive, Sakura.”

Her eyes widened a bit as she turned to see Itachi looking at her with a small smile. “Thank you.”

Itachi nodded with a polite smile before turning to address all three of them. “Are you all getting along?”

Sasuke looked away with a scowl trying to look as grumpy as he could now that his brother was looking, but didn’t complain about either of the two kids, so Itachi counted it as a win. Sakura didn’t answer at all, but she wasn’t shaking either, so again, a win. Naruto, in contrast, was nodding vigorously, beaming. Itachi couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He remembered guarding the child a number of times from rowdy citizens, and was glad to see that the child was still as cheery as ever. Kakashi had done well to get him out of the village.

“That’s good to hear.” Itachi continued. “We’re all going to be staying together for the foreseeable future, at least until we can make it to a safe village.” Again, Itachi got a scowl, a blank look, and a smile. Itachi internally sweat-dropped, although he kept on smiling politely. He prayed to whatever gods may exist that the three wildly different personalities didn’t clash too badly. “Anyway,” Itachi tried one last time for a different reaction, “Have any of you ever wanted to see the Land of Rivers?”

A scowl deepened, a smile brightened, and somehow, Sakura somehow managed to intensify her blank look.

Itachi’s smile faltered.  _ Oh dear _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine being able to write dialogue. Or Sasuke lmao
> 
> I wrote most of this in an hour and didn't proofread it im tired


	4. Konoha

Gai was on a mission when the defection happened. It was a simple B-rank, just guarding a minor lord’s entourage for a few days. He wasn’t out of the village for two weeks, but it was enough time for the defectors to be long gone.

Guy may have been odd, but he was still a shinobi, so he didn’t miss the fact that there was an extra chunin on gate duty. He didn’t miss the fact that the number of Anbu patrolling the village had increased substantially in his absence, or that there was a cloying sense of unease pervading the village. After handing in his mission scroll to the tense chunin at the mission desk, his battle instincts, he felt the familiar heat in his blood that usually came before a fight, and he fought the urge to look over his shoulder.

“Asuma!” he boomed, spotting his fellow Jonin a ways down the street. “My most excellent companion, what is the cause of this unfaithful feeling in the village?”

The man in question flinched minutely. “Gai,” he greeted. “How was your mission?”

“Most wonderful,” Gai answered. “But I notice a change in the village since I have left.”

Asuma lit a cigarette, using the moment to think about how to inform the Green Beast that his rival had turned traitor. “An Anbu squad has defected from the village,” he settled on.

“A whole squad? How unlikely! But still, it seems that the Village is too tense for a few missing-nin.”

“...We believe they took the Jinchuriki with them,” Asuma said after a moment. “Anbu is going crazy trying to get them all back.”

Gai looked gobsmacked, and damn if it wasn’t odd for Asuma to think that it was easier to tell Gai that the Kyuubi was missing then that Kakashi was gone.

Gai recomposed himself after a moment, giving his signature nice-guy pose. “This is no cause for worry! I am sure that with my Eternal Rival in pursuit, the traitors will be caught in no time!”

“Don’t count on it,” a voice snorted. Asuma turned to see Anko walking towards them. “It was your boyfriend’s team that went turncoat.”

For the second time in as many minutes, Gai’s jaw nearly hit the ground. “K- Kakashi left the village?” For once, Gai’s volume could almost be called a whisper. That is to say, it was normal speaking volume.

Asuma felt bad for the man, but Anko just snarled. “Without a word. Never would have pegged the guy for a traitor, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. He always was a bastard.”

Gai looked grim. “I am sure my Rival would not want to hurt us. If he left, he must have a good reason!”

Anko snorted again. “Sure. Tell me when you find it.”

* * *

Yugao was at one of the Anbu training grounds, taking her frustration out on a row of innocent trees. She felt conflicted. On the one hand, she felt bitter disappointment. She had been just a few weeks out from getting a chance to join her dream team when they defected. She hadn’t officially been slated for reassignment, of course, but it had been an open secret that Kakashi Hatake had been looking around for an additional member for his team, and he had invited her to spar with the team- which everyone in Anbu knew was an unofficial team tryout.

Officially, Team Ro wasn’t special in Anbu. They were only one team of many, and their members and captain held no authority above any other Anbu or captain. Their members were nothing special, assigned by the Anbu commander just like any other team.

Unofficially, however, Team Ro was legendary. Ever since the copy-nin had been given a team of his own, Ro’s success rate skyrocketed. The previously average team crawled its way to the peak of Anbu performance charts as the last Hatake whipped his team into top shape. The man also held enough to sway to approach the Anbu commander and ask for almost any team assignment and it would be granted. If Hatake wanted someone on his team, he would get them on his team. And it had almost been her!

With a growl she launched a jet of water powerful enough to nearly uproot the innocent tree she had aimed for. A newer Anbu recruit that had just entered the room sweatdropped behind his mask, and slowly backed out the door.

Being part of Team Ro had been her dream ever since she had joined Anbu. Besides their legendary status, Kakashi was her personal idol. He was the perfect soldier: powerful, intelligent, disciplined, (hot,) and unshakably loyal to Konoha. Or at least, it was thought. The thing was, however, even after seeing him defect, she couldn’t bring herself to lower her opinion of him, and if she was honest, she might respect him a bit more.

The thing was, she had seen why he had defected.

* * *

Shisui walked quietly through the unfamiliar hallways of a fringe Anbu base. He had felt as though he was in a daze for the past few days, ever since the news of Itachi’s defection and Sasuke’s presumptive kidnapping circulated throughout the village. One day had seemed to melt into the next as he tried to wrap his head around the idea  _ Itachi was gone _ .

His best friend, the boy who he’d stood by as long as he could remember. His comrade, with whom he’d sworn before the Hokage to prevent their clan’s rebellion. Itachi, the child whom he’d been like a brother to.

Gone.

Shisui’s thoughts ran in confused circles, starting and ending with  _ why. _ Why did Itachi leave, was Shisui not good enough, did Itachi give up on their clan, why did Itachi’s team leave,  _ why _ . These thoughts had run through Shisui’s head for days, and he still was at a loss.

It was another devastating blow to the clan’s precarious standing in the village. He had heard new rumours just this morning of Fugaku having supposedly ordered his son to defect, as though the man wasn’t falling apart with the loss of both of his sons.

Shisui’s reverie was momentarily broken when he realized that he had almost walked into the pale boy standing in front of his destination

“Name and reason for presence?” the boy asked in a drone-like matter.

“Uh, Shisui. Uchiha Shisui. I received a summons from Lord Danzo with this location,” Shisui answered, still a little out of it.

The guard stepped aside without a word, and Shisui opened the door behind him to a spartan office. Like the rest of Anbu facilities, the area was brightly lit to prevent possible intruders from hiding. Two more Anbu stood at the sides of a desk in the center of the room, the only piece of furniture in the space. Danzo looked up from a scroll he had been reading and gave what Shisui assumed was supposed to be a warm smile. It looked to the Uchiha as though the elder was in pain.

“Shisui,” Danzo started, and Shisui just _knew_ that he was going to hate whatever the man said next. “We need to talk about your clan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of don't like this chapter, but I also kind of don't like any of the chapters. This feels a little clunky to me, but it introduces a lot of characters that will become important later.

**Author's Note:**

> So... first fan-work! All comments are appreciated, whether about things you like, things I could do better, anything you'd like to see later in the work, whatever. If anything sounds clunky, unnatural repetitive, etc., please tell me! I'm trying to improve as a writer, and it's a large reason I'm starting to post here. Also, if there's anything you'd like to see plot-wise in the future, comment it! I have a couple of ideas for arcs in the future, but suggestions are great. My ultimate direction for the story is basically Team Ro trying to improve the world, and maybe take it over in the process, while trying to raise Team Seven at the same time. Has anybody ever seen Leverage? It's like Leverage, but with shinobi and children.


End file.
